Journal of Constructional Steel Research 158 (2019) 86–98

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Journal of Constructional Steel Research

Weldability of cold-formed high strength and ultra-high strength steels

Shahriar Afkhami a,⁎, Timo Björk a, Jari Larkiola b
a
Laboratory of Steel Structures, Lappeenranta University of Technology, P.O. Box 20, 53851, Lappeenranta, Finland
b
Materials and Production Engineering, Faculty of Technology, University of Oulu, Box 4200, 90014, Oulu, Finland

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Hollow sections and cold-formed steels have a key role in modern structures and machinery. In addition, to ben-
Received 5 September 2018 efit from full potentials of cold-formed steels, it is usually required to weld them to other steel parts of structures.
Received in revised form 4 January 2019 However, data provided by relevant standards, such as Eurocode 3, do not cover newly developed high strength
Accepted 13 March 2019
and ultra-high strength grades of this material. Thus, further study is critical to complete available data in litera-
Available online xxxx
ture and standards. Regarding this matter, having a good weldability for cold-formed high and ultra-high
Keywords:
strength steels is vital for development of contemporary steel structures. Thus, newly developed steels
Ultra-high strength steel S700MC and S1100 were selected to be investigated in this study. To do so, bended base metals with different
Cold-formed degrees of cold-forming were welded to their straight (virgin) counterparts. Next, welded joints were investi-
Weldability gated via microstructural analysis, hardness measurement, tensile test, and Charpy impact test to assess the
S700MC weldabilities of the cold-formed base metals. Results show that the final joints had acceptable characteristics,
S1100 and the cold-formed base metals showed good weldability. However, bending and pre-straining criteria recom-
mended by the manufacturer must be satisfied to have an acceptable joint after welding. Beyond that criteria,
fracture elongation and notch toughness of the welded joints decreased, and some welded samples failed from
their cold-formed base metals.
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Manufacturing of steel structures, as a resource-intensive industry,
consumes high volumes of natural resources and introduces various
types of waste materials into the environment. To minimize these neg-
ative effects, material preservation and sustainable production must be
considered in the contemporary industry [1]. To do so, one effective ap-
proach is to use stronger materials; however, this is not always an effi-
cient solution, since stronger and more advanced materials are usually
costly. One way to use these materials and have an economic final prod-
uct simultaneously is to use high strength steels (HSS) and ultra-high
strength steels (UHSS). These steels provide a cost-effective solution
for material preservation, manufacturing of strong and economic steel
structures, and saving energy [2]. In addition, these steels contribute
to a more sustainable construction by increasing the durability of the
final product [1].
Ultra-high strength steels can be defined as a type of advanced high
strength steels (AHSS) with a multiphase microstructure, which obtain
a good combination of strength and ductility by grain refinement and
thermomechanical processing. In addition, UHSSs and HSSs are consid-
ered as members of high strength low alloy (HSLA) steels due to their
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: shahriar.afkhami@lut.fi (S. Afkhami).
strength levels and low alloy contents [3,4]. Microstructures of HSSs
and UHSSs usually consist of a combination of irregular ferrite, bainite,
martensite, and retained austenite [5]. Regarding their strength, al-
though these steels have become more common in various industries,
a general definition of strength range is not assigned to UHSSs yet.
This lack of definition might be due to the constant development of
these steels. Currently, the upper limit of yield strength for commercial
grades of UHSSs has reached 1400 MPa, and it is getting higher progres-
sively [4]. In this study, according to difinitions provided by [6], AHSS
with the yield strength lower than 780 MPa are refered as HSSs, while
stornger steels are considered as UHSSs.
To benefit from full potentials of HSSs and UHSSs and provide
designers with more freedom, it is usually crucial to weld these
steels. Thus, welding HSSs and UHSSs, especially by laser welding
(LW) and gas-metal arc welding (GMAW), has been the subject of
numerous studies [7]. In addition, weldability of these steels was
investigated using various welding processes (including LW
[8–10], ultra-narrow gap laser welding [11,12], tungsten inert
gas welding [13,14], GMAW [12], and hybrid welding [15])
under different conditions (such as dissimilar welding positions
[9] or dissimilar joints [16]).
According to studies carried out on the weldability of HSSs and
UHSSs, common defects and difficulties associated with their welding
are cold cracking [10,17], decrease in toughness [18], lack of ductility

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcsr.2019.03.017
0143-974X/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 S. Afkhami et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 158 (2019) 86–98 87

Table 1
Chemical composition of S700MC [38].

C (max wt%) Si (max wt%) Mn (max wt%) P (max wt%) S (max wt%) Al (max wt%) Nb (max wt%) V (max wt%) Ti (max wt%)

0.120 0.210 2.100 0.020 0.010 0.015 0.090 0.200 0.150

CEV = 0.39
CET = 0.25

Table 2
Chemical composition of S1100 [38].

C (max wt%) Si (max wt%) Mn (max wt%) P (max wt%) S (max wt%) Cr (max wt%) Cu (max wt%) Ni (max wt%) Mo (max wt%) B (max wt%)

0.210 0.500 1.400 0.020 0.005 0.800 0.300 3.000 0.700 0.005

CEV = 0.70
CET = 0.40

Table 3
Mechanical properties of S700MC and S1100 at the ambient temperature and their notch toughness values [38].

Steel Thickness Minimum yield Tensile strength Minimum Minimum bendability Impact energy
grade (mm) strength (MPa) (MPa) elongation (%) for 90° (r/t) at -40°C (J)

S700MC 2–10 700 750–950 12 1.6 27

S1100 5–40 1100 1250–1550 10 3.0 27

Table 4
General specifications of the bended samples and their bending parameters.

Material Bending Radius r/t Dimensions of the Plate prior to the Degree of bendinga Maximum bending forceb Punch Speed Die opening
(mm) bending (mm) (Degree) (KN) (mm/s) (mm)

S700MC 5 0.50 200 × 100 × 10 90 1000 9.5 100

S700MC 10 1.00 200 × 100 × 10 90 1000 9.5 100
S700MC 15 1.50 200 × 100 × 10 90 1000 9.5 100
S700MC 20 2.00 200 × 100 × 10 90 1000 9.5 100
S1100 24 3.00 200 × 300 × 8 90 1000 9.5 140
S1100 26 3.25 200 × 300 × 8 90 1000 9.5 140
S1100 28 3.50 200 × 300 × 8 90 1000 9.5 140
S1100 30 3.75 200 × 300 × 8 90 1000 9.5 140
S1100 37 4.60 200 × 300 × 8 90 1000 9.5 140
S1100 40 5.00 200 × 300 × 8 90 1000 9.5 140
a
Bending axis was perpendicular to the rolling direction.
b
Bending machine: Press brake Ursviken Optima 100.

[16], decrease in strength [12,13], and softening of heat affected zone
(HAZ) [8,10,18,19]. However, it is usually possible to reduce these de-
fects by controlling heat input, cooling rate, and heat flow during a
welding procedure [14,20].
HAZ softening and decrease in strength can be minimized via con-
trolling heat input and using a proper welding process [11,12,15].
According to some studies, the best method to alleviate such effects is
to control HAZ microstructure by using the least possible value of
welding heat input and facilitate the heat dissipation away from the
joint [20–22]. In addition, it is feasible to decrease the risk of cold crack-
ing by controlling the humidity during the welding process, e.g. using a
shielding gas [17].

Table 5
Welding parameters according to the bending conditions and base materials.

Base r/t Welding Welding Number of Travel speed Approximate accumulated Type of the filler Type of the
material voltage (V) Current (A) passesa, b (mm/s) heat input (KJ/mm) material shielding gas

S700MC 0.50 25 220 3 7.5 1.75 Böhler alform® 700-MC 92%Ar-8%CO2

S700MC 1.00 25 220 3 7.5 1.75 Böhler alform® 700-MC 92%Ar-8%CO2
S700MC 1.50 25 220 4 7.5 2.50 Böhler alform® 700-MC 92%Ar-8%CO2
S700MC 2.00 25 220 4 7.5 2.50 Böhler alform® 700-MC 92%Ar-8%CO2
S1100 3.00 25 220 4 7.5 2.50 Böhler union X96 92%Ar-8%CO2
S1100 3.25 25 220 4 7.5 2.50 Böhler union X96 92%Ar-8%CO2
S1100 3.50 25 220 4 7.5 2.50 Böhler union X96 92%Ar-8%CO2
S1100 3.75 25 220 4 7.5 2.50 Böhler union X96 92%Ar-8%CO2
S1100 4.60 25 220 4 7.5 2.50 Böhler union X96 92%Ar-8%CO2
S1100 5.00 25 220 4 7.5 2.50 Böhler union X96 92%Ar-8%CO2
a
Preheat temperature for all the welds: 25°C
b
The maximum interpass temperature for all the welds: 50°C
88 S. Afkhami et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 158 (2019) 86–98

Fig. 1. Schematic view of the (A) flat tensile [41], and (B) sub-size notch toughness
specimens [42].

In addition to welding, another way to improve the applicability of

HSSs and UHSSs as well as to increase their strength to weight ratio is
using their hollow sections. Cold-formed or tubular hollow sections
are currently used to enhance the efficiency of steel structures, espe-
Fig. 3. Microstructures of the base metals: (A) S700MC, (B) S1100.
cially in construction and car manufacturing [23]. Furthermore, these
hollow sections are critical for energy absorbent parts in the contempo-
rary automobile industry. In addition, these sections increase safety, re-
duce weight, and decrease fuel consumption of modern vehicles [24].
However, none of these is possible without joining these sections into
each other and other parts of structures. Among various joining pro-
cesses, welding is one of the most effective and common methods.
These points establish the importance of welded cold-formed HSSs
and UHSSs in today's industry [2,24,25].
One drawback of cold-forming is the development of pre-strains in
deformed steel and consequently in the hollow section made from it.
These pre-strains can introduce new challenges into the welding of
this material. Even a controlled amount of pre-strain changes mechani-
cal properties of steel. This plastic deformation induces different de-
grees of permanent distortion on the microstructure. Additionally, it
increases the dislocation density throughout the deformed microstruc-
ture. Excessive dislocations hinder grain boundaries movement and
grains deformation while encouraging the mobility of atoms [26,27]. Fig. 4. Microstructure of S1100 in 10,000× magnification.
These phenomena cause some changes in material behaviour, including
an increase in its strength and hardness, a decrease in its ductility, and a such as their hollow sections, can show weldabilities different from
drop in its fracture toughness. In addition, pre-strains may ease crack those of their virgin (without pre-strain) materials [28–30].
initiation and growth. Furthermore, they may increase ductile to brittle This study aims to investigate weldability of cold-formed S700MC, as
transition temperature (DBTT). Thus, cold-formed HSSs and UHSSs, a frequently used HSS in steel structures, and S1100, as a newly

Fig. 2. Welded joints with the base material and the bending radius of (A) S700MC, 5 mm; (B) S1100, 40 mm.
 S. Afkhami et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 158 (2019) 86–98 89

Fig. 5. (A) Hardness profiles of S700MC with r/t = 2 (area of the weld metal is indicated by dashed lines along the profiles); and its HAZ microstructures: (B) microstructure of the softened
zone on the cold-formed side (point 1 in A); (C) microstructure of the softened zone on the virgin side (point 2 in A); (D) microstructure of the point with the highest hardness value on the
cold-formed side (point 3 in A); (E) microstructure of the point with the highest hardness value on the virgin side (point 4 in A).

developed UHSS. The main motivation of this research is the significant
role of welded cold-formed HSSs and UHSSs in modern steel structures,
especially pressure vessels, vehicles, and cranes [31–33]. Due to this im-
portant role, some studies investigated the welding and joint character-
istics of HSSs and UHSSs under different conditions, including welding
their cold-formed sections [20,34–36]. Although some rules are pre-
sented for welding the cold-formed areas of steels by various standards,
including EN 1993-1-8, these rules are limited to normal and some high
strength steels. Thus, welding of cold-formed UHSSs still requires fur-
ther investigation. This is of utmost importance, since the load bearing
capacity of a steel structure is usually limited to the durability of its crit-
ical joints [23]. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate
weldability of cold-formed HSS S700MC and UHSS S1100, welded by
GMAW as a commonly used welding process in steel structures, auto-
mobile manufacturing, and crane production.
2. Materials and procedure
Two sets of welded joints, one made from S700MC as the base mate-
rial and the other one made from S1100, were investigated in this study.
According to the materials manufacturer, S700MC is a hot-rolled HSS
with a minimum yield strength of 700 MPa and an acceptable formabil-
ity. S1100 is a hot-rolled UHSS with a minimum yield strength of
1100 MPa which is suitable for cold-forming. Recommended applica-
tion for the both steels is production of load-bearing steel structures
[37,38]. Chemical compositions of S700MC and S1100 are presented in
90 S. Afkhami et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 158 (2019) 86–98
Fig. 6. Microstructure of the weld metal in S700MC welded joints (Böhler alform®
700-MC).
Tables 1 and 2 respectively. Mechanical properties of these steels are
presented in Table 3.
Air bending was used to introduce different degrees of pre-strain
to the cold-formed base metals. Different degrees of cold-forming
(DOC) were emulated by using different radius to thickness ratios
(r/t) for the bending trials. After that, GMAW, as a frequently used
welding process for industrial applications, was utilized to perform
the welding procedures. Bending and welding parameters are pre-
sented in Tables 4 and 5 respectively. To have a comparison between
the cold-formed and virgin materials, each bended plate was welded
to its virgin counterpart.
Regarding the filler materials, S700MC was welded using a matching
one commercially known as Böhler alform® 700-MC, while Böhler
union X96 was used for the samples made from S1100, although it
was an undermatching filler material. This was due to the fact that
X96 is currently the only commercially available filler material with a
yield strength close to the yield strength of the base metal [39].
After welding, the samples were cut into proper size and polished to
achieve required surface finish to perform microstructural analysis and
microhardness measurements. The polished samples were etched by
Nital (95 ml of C2H5OH + 5 ml of HNO3) for 5 s to reveal their macro-
structural and microstructural features. Macrostructural analysis of the
samples was carried out via optical microscopy, while the microstruc-
tural features were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
Prior to SEM, hardness measurements were carried out following ISO
6507-1 to recognize different zones (base metal, heat affected zone,
and fusion zone) and sub-zones (HAZ sub-zones) for the microstruc-
tural analysis [40].
Fig. 7. Hardness profiles of HAZ sub-zones on the upper sections of (A) virgin sides and (B) cold-formed sides of the samples made from S700MC, according to the bending radius of the
cold-formed side of their joints.
Fig. 8. Microstructural features along the fusion line of the joint made from S700MC with
r/t = 2.
Regarding the uniaxial tensile test, flat specimens were cut out of the
welded samples in accordance with ASTM E8M (Fig. 1.A) [41]. The ten-
sile tests were carried out with a strain rate of 0.004 s−1. During the tri-
als, ARAMIS, as a digital image correlation (DIC) system, measured and
recorded displacements to calculate the elongation values. In addition
to the tensile test, Charpy impact test was carried out on the welded
samples to have a more comprehensive evaluation of their mechanical
properties.
Sub-size Charpy specimens were prepared according to ASTM E23M
(Fig. 1.B), and their notch toughness values were measured at −40 °C.
Due to the limited thickness of the welded samples, the thickness
value of the specimens was set to 5 mm [42]. A correction factor calcu-
lated by eqs. 1 and 2 [43] was used to extrapolate actual notch tough-
ness values. After breaking the samples, their fracture surfaces were
analyzed via micro-photography to determine the shear fracture area
(SFA). This parameter was used to estimate the ductile to brittle fracture
ratio of each specimen.
   
d d s
e ¼ K  1− þE  ð1Þ
D D S
where e and E are the fracture energy densities (J/mm3) of sub-size and
normal specimens respectively. K is the rupture energy which is consid-
ered as 29.3 J for ductile steels. D and d are the ligament sizes of normal
and sub-size specimens respectively (mm). Finally, s and S are the
cross-sectional areas of sub-size and normal specimens respectively
(mm2). According to Lucon et al. [43], if sub-size and normal specimens
have equal ligament sizes, similar to the specimens used in this study,
 S. Afkhami et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 158 (2019) 86–98 91

Fig. 9. (A) Hardness profiles of S1100 with r/t = 3.25 (weld metals are indicated by dashed lines along the profiles); and their HAZ microstructures: (B) microstructure of the softened zone
on the cold-formed side (point 1 in A); (C) microstructure of the softened zone on the virgin side (point 2 in A); (D) microstructure of the point with the highest hardness value on the
cold-formed side (point 3 in A); (E) microstructure of the point with highest hardness value on the virgin side (point 4 in A).

their fracture energy densities are proportional to their cross-sectional this figure, bending process and its resultant pre-strains did not cause
areas. Thus, eq. 1 can be modified to Eq. 2: any macrostructural discontinuity and rupture prior to the welding tri-
als. Furthermore, the welding procedure did not cause any type of de-
s fects in the joints.
e¼E ð2Þ
S
3.1. Microstructures of the base metals

3. Results and discussion
According to visual inspection of the welded samples, the welded
joints did not have any type of defects and cracks. As an example, the
macrostructural features of the samples with the lowest (5 mm) and
the highest (40mm) bending radii are presented in Fig. 2. According to
Microstructures of the base metals in their as-received condition are
presented in Fig. 3. As can be seen in Fig. 3.A, the microstructure of
S700MC consisted of a mixture of bainite and islands of martensite-
austenite (M/A), which appeared as non-etched smooth blocks in this
figure. In addition, according to Navarro-López et al. [44], etched areas
with irregular shapes (as one of them is indicated with white dashed
92 S. Afkhami et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 158 (2019) 86–98

The microstructure of S1100 is presented in Fig. 3.B. As shown in this

figure, this steel consisted of islands of M/A surrounded by bainite and
ferrite. In addition, similar to S700MC, some small blocks of retained
austenite (indicated by white dashed arrows) were scattered along
the prior austenite grain boundaries and between the laths of bainite.
As indicated in Fig. 4 by white dashed boundaries, by increasing the
magnification to 10,000×, an elongated morphology with wavy bound-
aries, including irregular patterns of sporadic carbides, also appeared
beside the ferritic laths. According to Navarro-López et al. [44], this
type of morphology has a martensitic origin and, due to the presence
of scattered carbides with no specific direction, can be considered as
tempered martensite.

3.2. Hardness profiles and HAZ microstructures

Fig. 10. Microstructure of the weld metal for S1100 welded joints (Böhler Union X96).
boundaries) were also of bainitic origin, although they had a smooth ap-
pearance. All these microstructural features were within packets ex-
tended to the prior austenite grain boundaries. Additionally, some
small blocks were scattered along the prior austenite grain boundaries
and between the bainite laths (indicated by white dashed arrows in
Fig. 3.A). According to [44], these blocks were likely small islands of
retained austenite entrapped between other phases, along their high-
angle boundaries.
Hardness profile of the welded sample made from S700MC with r/t
= 2 is presented in Fig. 5. Hardness profiles of the other S700MC sam-
ples were similar to the data from this figure. According to Fig. 5, hard-
ness values on the cold-formed side were slightly higher than their
counterparts on the virgin side. This behaviour can be attributed to
the higher dislocation density of the cold-formed material and its strain
hardening [28,29]. In addition, the middle section, as the most severely
heated zone, had the lowest hardness value along its cross-sectional
area. The entire HAZ was a mixture of bainite and martensite but their
ratio, morphology, and roughness were different in every HAZ sub-
zone. In addition, the average hardness of the weld metal (Böhler

Fig. 11. Hardness profiles of HAZ sub-zones on the upper sections of (A) virgin sides and (B) cold-formed sides of the samples made from S1100.

Fig. 12. Microstructural features near the fusion line: (A) on the final pass of the welding in the cold-formed side (B) on the second pass in the virgin side (welded S1100, r/t = 3.25).
Dashed areas are tempered martensite, while M/A islands are indicated by white arrows based on their non-etched and smooth appearance. Background phase is bainite.
 S. Afkhami et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 158 (2019) 86–98 93

Fig. 13. Fractured specimens and their DIC images just before the moment of their failures; (A) and (C): S700MC with r/t = 2; (B) and (D) S1100 with r/t = 5.

Table 6
Static mechanical properties of the welded S700MC samples.

r/t on the deformed side Yield strength Tensile strength Fracture displacement (mm) Elongation (%) Approximate Area of fracture
of the weld (MPa) (MPa) Young's modulus (GPa)

0.5 800 844 6.9 13.8 240 Cold-formed base metal

1.0 812 864 7.0 14.0 240 Cold-formed base metal
1.5 815 880 6.9 13.8 225 Cold-formed base metal
2.0 795 871 7.6 15.2 225 Virgin base metal

alform® 700-MC) was higher than the average hardness of the other
zones. According to Fig. 6, this higher hardness was due to the fine-
textured martensitic microstructure of this area.
Regarding the softened sub-zones (points 1 and 2 in Fig. 5.A), the mi-
crostructure of these regions was a mixture of four distinctive features.
The first was the presence of blocks of a martensitic phase with a non-
Fig. 14. True stress-strain curves of the welded S700MC samples up to their necking
points, according to the bending radius of their bended base metals.
etched and smooth appearance, which, according to Navarro-López
et al. [44], were islands of fine-textured martensite/austenite (M/A).
This feature was more frequent on the virgin side. The second feature
was bainite, which was more prevalent on the cold-formed side. The
third was a granular shaped feature described as granular bainite in
welded HSSs and UHSSs in some literature [45] or simply just ferrite
by some others [37]. Finally, blocks of retained austenite were scattered
along the boundaries.
Regarding the HAZ sub-zones with the highest hardness values
(points 3 and 4 in Fig. 5.A), these areas experienced full austenitizing
and subsequent cooling due to their location which was close to the fu-
sion line. According to Figs. 5.D and 5.E, the hardest HAZ sub-zone on
the virgin side was a mixture of martensite and bainite, while its coun-
terpart on the cold-formed side mainly consisted of bainite. These dif-
ferent microstructures resulted in the higher hardness peak values on
the virgin side, due to its higher martensite content. In addition, since
these sub-zones experienced similar thermal gradients, this difference
between their microstructures can be attributed to the effects of prior
cold-forming on the bended side of the joint.
Cold-forming results in smaller austenite grain size after austen-
itization. Any decrease in austenite grain size results in lower martens-
ite start and bainite start temperatures. Thus, after austenitizing and
under a constant cooling rate, a cold-formed material with a finer
94 S. Afkhami et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 158 (2019) 86–98

Table 7
Static mechanical properties of the S1100 welded samples.

r/t on the deformed side of the Yield strength Tensile strength Fracture Elongation Approximate Young's modulus Area of fracture
weld (MPa) (MPa) displacement (%) (GPa)
(mm)

3.00 1030 1184 6.4 12.8 185 Virgin base metal

3.25 1095 1152 6.0 12.0 165 Virgin base metal
3.50 1115 1195 6.0 12.0 180 Virgin base metal
3.75 1080 1149 5.7 11.4 190 Virgin base metal
4.60 1110 1209 5.7 11.4 190 Virgin base metal
5.00 1090 1192 6.2 12.4 180 Virgin base metal

austenitic texture (in comparison to its virgin counterpart) can be more
favourable toward austenite to bainite transformation and hinder mar-
tensite formation. This behaviour results in higher bainite to martensite
ratio and consequently lower maximum hardness values for the cold-
formed base metals [46–48]. In addition, according to Fig. 7, by increas-
ing the DOC and pre-strains, the hardness drops in the areas adjacent to
the fusion line increased consequently. This behaviour is also in agree-
ment with the earlier evaluation.
Another microstructural feature near the fusion line was a
feather-like ferrite, as shown in Fig. 8. According to this figure,
the fully martensitic microstructure of the weld metal changed
into a mixture of feather-like ferrite (dashed area) and islands of
M/A on the fusion line. Next, the microstructure became a mixture
Fig. 15. True stress-strain curves of the welded S1100 specimens up to their necking
points, according to the bending radius of their bended base metals.
of bainite (white arrows) and islands of M/A (black arrows) in the
heat affected zone. The feathery shape (long parallel thin lines of
ferrite) near the fusion line is attributed to the morphology of
upper bainite in some literature [49,50]. The appearance of upper
bainite on or near the fusion line of some welded joints made
from low carbon and carbon steels is expected due to the high
thermal gradients and peak temperatures in these areas [51].
Hardness profile of the welded sample made from S1100 with r/t =
3.25 and microstructures of its HAZ sub-zones are presented in Fig. 9.
The other S1100 samples also showed a similar trend in their hardness
changes. According to this figure, the whole HAZ area generally
consisted of a mixture of martensite and bainite containing sparse
islands of tempered martensite. However, texture size of these features
for each sub-zone was different from the other ones. Softened sub-
zones (points 1 and 2 in Fig. 9.A) had a coarse texture which resulted
in their low hardness values, while points with maximum hardness
values (point 3 and 4 in Fig. 9.A) had a normalized microstructure
which consisted of a fine-textured mixture of bainite and martensite.
Unlike S700MC, hardness values of the weld metal were not signifi-
cantly higher than the base materials. This behaviour can be attributed
to the similarity of their microstructures. The microstructure of the
weld metal (Union X96) is presented in Fig. 10. According to this
figure, it was a mixture of bainite and martensite, similar to S1100
microstructure.
Hardness profiles of HAZs for welded samples with different DOCs
are presented in Fig. 11. According to this figure, hardness drops and
fluctuations in the samples did not show any specific trend; however,
similar to S700MC, the welded sample with the highest DOC (r =
24 mm and r/t = 3) had the most drastic hardness drop near the fusion
line in its cold-formed base metal. According to Fig. 12, microstructures
of the HAZs were similar to the base metals even along the fusion line,

Fig. 16. Notch toughness of the cold-formed base metals and their HAZs: (A) made from S700MC, and (B) made from S1100.
 S. Afkhami et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 158 (2019) 86–98
Fig. 17. Fracture surfaces and their SFAs for the bended sides of the welded joints made from S700MC, according to their bending radius: (A) r = 5 mm, (B) r = 10 mm, (C) r = 15 mm,
(D) r = 20 mm. Brittle fracture areas are inside the white dashed boundaries.
and these microstructures consisted of islands of tempered martensite
(dashed areas) and martensite scattered through a bainitic background.
3.3. Static mechanical properties
All the samples failed from their base metals in uniaxial tensile tests.
As an example, DIC results and images of the fractured specimens with
the highest r/t values for each base material are presented in Fig. 13. Re-
sults of the uniaxial tensile tests of S700MC are summarized in Table 6,
and their true stress-strain curves are presented in Fig. 14. Regarding
S700MC, the welded sample with r/t = 2 failed from its virgin side,
while the rest, with higher DOCs and lower r/t, failed from their bended
base materials. In other words, samples with DOCs higher than the rec-
ommended value (r/t = 1.6 in Table 3) failed from their cold-formed
base material. According to Table 6, samples which failed from their
bended side had slightly higher yield strengths but lower elongations.
However, according to Fig. 14, stress-strains curves of the samples
were not significantly different from each other, regardless of the loca-
tion of their failure.
Regarding S1100, the results of its uniaxial tensile tests and the true
stress-strain curves are presented in Table 7 and Fig. 15 respectively.
95
Since all the specimens failed from their virgin base metals, all the re-
sults presented in the table and the figure represent solely one material,
which is virgin S1100. Thus, regardless of the DOCs of the bended sides,
the results do not show any significant variations from each other. Fur-
thermore, these values do not represent the mechanical properties of
the bended base metals.
Occurrence of failures from the virgin base metals can be attributed
to the proper bending radii (or DOC) of the cold-formed materials since
all of them were bended following the manufacturer's recommendation
(r/t ≥ 3). Additionally, none of the joints failed from their weld metals,
although they were welded by an undermatching filler material. This re-
sult indicated the fact that stress bearing capacity of Böhler Union X96
was higher than the nominal yield strength of its weld metal in this
study. Finally, it should be noted that bended S1100 base metals with
r/t ≤ 3 ruptured after bending and were not eligible for further welding
procedure.
According to Tables 6 and 7, there were some variations in the values
of Young's modulus measured by tensile test. The fluctuations might
be due to inhomogeneity of the materials throughout the gauge area
of the samples. Until the yield point, the elastic displacement belonged
to the whole gauge area consisting of different materials: cold-formed
96 S. Afkhami et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 158 (2019) 86–98

Fig. 18. Fracture surfaces and their SFAs for the bended sides of the joints made from S1100, according to their bending radius: (A) r = 20 mm, (B) r = 24 mm, (C) r = 28 mm, (D) r =
30 mm, (E) r = 37 mm, (F) r = 40 mm. Brittle fracture areas are inside the white dashed boundaries.

base metal, weld metal, virgin base metal, and heat affected zones. Thus, which led the variations in the values of Young's modulus. After the
the overall value for Young's modulus achieved via tensile test was a yield point, plastic deformation was focused on one spot which was
combination of different moduli belonging to the dissimilar materials the weakest material along the gauge area.
 S. Afkhami et al. / Journal of Constructional Steel Research 158 (2019) 86–98
3.4. Notch toughness
In this study, Charpy impact tests were carried out with notch posi-
tions in the HAZs (1 mm away from the fusion line and into the bended
material) and cold-formed base metals (5 mm away from the fusion
line). The results are summarized in Fig. 16. According to this figure,
notch toughness values of the bended base metals increased by increas-
ing their r/t (decreasing their DOC), as expected according to [29,30].
Analysis of the fractured surfaces also led to the same conclusion. As
shown in Figs. 17 and 18, samples with higher DOCs had smaller pro-
portions of shear fracture area (SFA). Having a smaller SFA value is an
indicator of a more brittle fracture in a Charpy sample.
Based on the samples geometry (Fig. 1.B), correction factor from eq.
2 is equal to 2. By means of this factor, bended samples with higher
DOCs (r/t = 0.5 for S700MC; r/t = 3, 3.25, and 3.5 for S1100) estimated
to have notch toughness values lower than the acceptance criteria pro-
vided by the manufacturer (27 J at -40 °C). Thus, welding the cold-
formed sections with these r/t ratios is not recommended, especially
for low-temperature applications.
3.5. Evaluation of the weldabilities
In this study, four criteria were considered to evaluate the
weldability of cold-formed S700MC and S1100, which were their micro-
structures, hardness profiles, tensile properties, and fracture notch
toughness values. Regarding the microstructure, S1100 did not have
any harmful phases along its HAZs and in the base metal after the
welding, except for some small amounts of tempered martensite. How-
ever, size and distribution of the islands of tempered martensite were
not significant enough to show any negative effects on the static me-
chanical properties of the welded joints. For S700MC, although some
undesirable phases, such as upper bainite and tempered martensite,
were scattered from the fusion lines into their HAZs, they were not
too defective to alter the mechanical properties. Some studies attribute
the neutrality of these phases on the mechanical properties of welded
joints to the low carbon content of HSSs and UHSSs [51].
Regarding the hardness values, softening occurred in all the welded
samples (Figs. 7 and 11). In addition, it occurred more severely in their
cold-formed base metals. However, since none of the samples failed
from their HAZs, softening seemed to have no negative effect on the
static mechanical properties of the welded joints.
Results of the uniaxial tensile tests showed the negative effect of ex-
cessive DOC on the weldabilities. According to the results, samples with
bending radii smaller than the recommended values fractured from
their cold-formed base metals. Results of the Charpy impact tests also
led to a similar conclusion for S700MC. The results suggested even
more restrictive criteria for S1100. Considering the notch toughness as
the weldability measure, welded joints with r/t higher than 3.5 had an
acceptable weldability.
4. Conclusions
This study investigated microstructures and mechanical properties
of cold-formed S700MC and S1100 after welding to evaluate their
weldability. According to the results, following conclusions can be
made:
1- Generally, both S700MC and S1100 had bainitic-martensitic micro-
structures in their as-received and cold-formed conditions.
2- All welded samples showed patterns of hardness profiles typical for
HSSs and UHSSs, including soft zones and sub-regions with the
highest hardness values located near the fusion lines.
3- Hardness values were higher on the cold-formed sides of the welded
joints in comparison to their virgin counterparts.
97
4- According to the tensile tests, welded joints with excessive DOCs
fractured from their cold-formed base metals. In addition, their
notch toughness was lower than acceptable values.
In conclusion, cold-formed S700MC and S1100 showed acceptable
weldability and satisfactory mechanical properties after welding. How-
ever, the degree of cold-forming was a determining factor in their post
welding behaviour. Excessive deformation and pre-strains resulted in
premature failures in the cold-formed side of the welded joints. Regard-
ing this matter, following the deformation limits and criteria provided
by the manufacturer are highly recommended.
For further study, weldability of cold-formed S700MC and S1100 can
be investigated by other typical welding techniques, such as shielded
metal arc welding. In addition, other types of UHSSs with higher
strengths are yet to be studied.
Acknowledgments
This study was funded by Business Finland as a part of TuoTe project
(23B25624YT10). The authors wish to express their gratitude to SSAB
Corporation for providing the required material in this research. The
help and support of Mr. Matti Koskimäki in managing the laboratory
work is highly appreciated.
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